Gondulphus

(GUNDULFUS).

The name of three saints, of whom one was Bishop of Tongres (Maestricht), the
second Bishop of Metz, while the third is known as Gondulphus of Berry. We
possess little information concerning any of the three, and the slight idea of
each afforded us by the documents of the Middle Ages is reduced to the following.

1. Gondulphus of Metz

Gondulphus of Metz is the one concerning whom our information is most
reliable. His feast is celebrated on 6 September. As bishop, Gondulphus
succeeded Angilram, him who caused Paul the Deacon to write the Liber de
episcopis Mettensibus, and who died probably in 791. At the death of Angilram
there was a vacancy in the episcopal See of Metz, which was terminated by the
accession of Gondulphus. The Annales S. Vincentii Mettenses give the date as
819. But, as it is known, on the other hand, that since the time of Bishop
Chrodegang episcopal ordination took place on Sunday, the date of the
consecration of Bishop Gondulphus must be set down as 28 (?) December, 816. The
old episcopal catalogue of the church of Metz informs us that Gondulphus
occupied the see of this church for six years, eight months, and seven days, and
that he died on the 7th of the Ides of September, which would be the sixth of
that month, in the year 823. He was buried in the monastery of Gorze, where his
relics are still honoured on 6 September. It is impossible to quote in this
respect any special patronage, and with regard to his episcopal career, apart
from the details furnished here, there exists no information.

2. Gondulphus of Tongres

Or, as he is commonly called Gondulphus of Maastricht because his
predecessor, Bishop Monulphus, transferred the seat of the bishopric from
Tongres to Maastricht, which thenceforth was the actual residence of the bishops
of Tongres. However, the official title of the Bishop of Tongres, episcopus
Tungrorum, was retained until the eleventh century, even when the episcopal see
had been transferred from Maastricht to Liège.

Bishop Gondulphus is a somewhat enigmatic figure indeed, one is inclined to
question whether he be not identical with Monulphus. But the two saints must
nevertheless be distinguished. Monulphus must have occupied the See of Tongres
until the end of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century, while at the
Council of Paris in 614 the presence is discovered of a Bishop of Maastricht
named Betulphus. Gondulphus, then, probably comes between Monulphus and
Betulphus, at least if this Betulphus must not be identified with Gondulphus on
the grounds that the case is analogous to that of the episcopal list of Mainz,
where Bertulfus and Crotoldus must be reckoned identical. Furthermore, the
episcopal lists of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, whose value is, however,
not very great, ignore Betulphus, and make Gondulphus the immediate successor of
Monulphus. The biographies of Gondulphus, which are handed down to us from the
Middle Ages, are merely an extract from the Vita Servatii of the priest
Jocundus. They are quite without value and are full of legends. If they are to
be believed, Gondulphus endeavoured to rebuild the town of Tongres, which had
been destroyed by the barbarian invasions. But heaven opposed his scheme, and
miraculously manifested its desire to the saint. Furious wolves fell upon the
pagan colonists of this region, and devoured them before the eyes of the
horrified bishop. Thus has legend quite obscured the authentic history of St.
Gondulphus, the fact of his episcopacy at Maastricht being the only one that is
authentic. According to local tradition he occupied the episcopal see for seven
years and died about 607. This last statement does not tally with his presence
at Paris in 614, if he is to be considered identical with the Betulphus who
assisted at that council. In any case he was buried in the nave of the church of
Saint-Servais at Maastricht, which had been magnificently restored by his
predecessor, St. Monulphus.

The bodies of Monulphus and Gondulphus were solemnly exhumed in 1039 by the
Bishops Nithard of Liège and Gérard of Cambrai. An epitaph commemorating this
event was afterwards misinterpreted, and gave rise to a legend according to
which the two saints arose from their tomb in 1039 in order to assist at the
dedication of the church of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), and at the conclusion of
the ceremony returned to their tomb to resume their eternal sleep. Together with
St. Monulphus, St. Gondulphus is secondary patron of the city and church of
Maastricht. His feast is kept on 16 July. The commemoration of the exhumation of
1039 is celebrated on to August.

3. St. Gondulphus (or Gondon) of Berry

St. Gondulphus of Berry, who is honoured with the title of bishop, is a
person of whom history gives a still more legendary account than of his namesake
of Maastricht. According to the biography in which he is comparatively lately
treated by a monk of Berry, he was Archbishop of Milan in the seventh century.
Not succeeding in appeasing the troubles which had arisen in his church, he
resolved to submit to the inevitable, and retired to Berry with a number of his
disciples. It is not known, however, that any Archbishop of Milan had to deal
with these conditions. It is true that it has been thought that Gondulphus lived
at the time of the Milanese schism regarding the affair of the Three Chapters,
that he was consecrated in 555, but that he was never received as bishop in his
diocese. These are merely hypotheses and in fact it must be said that the
history of the St. Gondulphus who is honoured in Berry is unknown.

The attestation of his cult in Berry appears late among the additions to the
martyrology of Usuard; it is cited in the Breviary of Bourges in 1625. He is the
patron of St-Gondon, near Gien. His feast is kept on 17 June.